Autograph

Autograph reveals the seamier side of the film industry. It highlights how the media makes it uglier than it really is,especially while constructing negative hypes around film stars.

A self-reflexive project – a film-within-a-film is both a challenge and a risk. But its worth the risk when Prosenjit is the hero of the movie. New director Shuvobrata Mitra (Indraneel Sengupta) persuades Arun Chatterjee (Prosenjit),the numero uno of Bengali cinema,to produce and act in his first film Aajker Nayak,his tribute to Satyajit Rays Nayak (1966.) Indraneel picks his live-in girlfriend Srinandita (Nandana Sen),a stage actress,to do the part. The initially reluctant Srinandita steps in. Arun and Srinandita develop a bond that is mysteriously orchestrated by her director-boyfriend. By the time the shooting ends,their journeys change in different and unpredictable ways. Their relationship undergoes a flux. Srinandita walks out of Indraneels life. A shocked and betrayed Arun Chatterjee scraps the release of the film.

The similarities between Rays Nayak and Srijit Mukherjees Autograph are superficial. In Nayak,Arindam Mukherjee (Uttam Kumar) was not acting in any film-within-the film. He was travelling to Delhi by Rajdhani Express to collect the National Award as he couldnt get air tickets. During this journey,he meets Aditi,the editor of a magazine and pours his heart out during an impromptu interview. In Autograph,the hero in the film-within-the-film meets a woman journalist played by Srinandita on a flight. The world beyond the film being directed by Shuvobrata and the real world inhabited by these three major characters begin to blur and overlap,till their private worlds collapse around them.

Autograph reveals the seamier side of the film industry. It highlights how the media makes it uglier than it really is,especially while constructing negative hypes around film stars,ruining their personal lives and thrusting them into a world lonelier and more isolated than it already is. Shuvobrata forgets about his creative intellect when he gets the jitters about whether the film will bring in an audience. Indraneel delivers a convincing performance. He changes from a modest,unassuming and adorable young man to an arrogant,rude,selfish individual devoid of any emotions by the time his film ends. Arun discovers his emotional side when he bonds with Srinandita. For Srinandita,it is a process of discovering the hollowness of her relationship with Shuvobrata juxtaposed against the honesty of her brief friendship with her screen hero. Nandana is sparkling. But her character lacks depth and her escape to the hills on the rebound to teach children does not do justice to her brave character that is earlier seen in the film. Prosenjit outshines himself as Arun Chatterjee who keeps insisting “I am Arun Chatterjee. I am the industry,” yet,his expression caught in close-up is that of a broken man,defeated by betrayal when he watches his own ‘break story’ on a television channel about a ‘scandal’ that never existed. Rudraprasad Sengupta,Biswajit Chakraborty,Dhruv Mookerji,Sohini Pal,Dwijen Banerjee and Pijush Ganguly offer solid support in well-scripted cameos.

Debajyoti Mishras musical score and brilliant lyrics will live beyond the film. Shoumik Haldars cinematography is noteworthy as it captures the shifting moods of the movie beautifully. Bodhaditya Banerjees editing makes the transitions between the movie being shot and the larger film,the slight forays into darkly-lit dinner dates and the long drives along national highways seamless.

Rating: ****

The four-star rating is for Prosenjit,the music and lyrics and the cinematography and direction.